Parker banished for defensive lapse

The stomach ailment that nearly kept Tony Parker out of Friday’s game was nearly gone by tip-off Sunday, but the Spurs’ starting point guard may have ringing in his ears long after the 94-91 victory.

A defensive deficiency in the fourth quarter — Parker failed to step in front of Minnesota guard Luke Ridnour as he started a drive that produced a Kevin Love dunk — resulted in Parker’s banishment to the bench for the remainder of the game.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave Parker an emphatic, pointed reminder on his way to the pine: Defensive miscues, especially in crunch time, won’t be tolerated.

Parker, whose career-best game, a 55-point, 10-assist, seven-rebound performance came against the Timberwolves on Nov. 5, 2008, logged only 25 minutes and 44 seconds Sunday. He didn’t score in the first quarter, didn’t make his first basket until 4:35 remained in the second quarter, and finished with 11 points and four assists.

Though Popovich reported before the game that Parker assured him he was feeling better after his bout with a stomach bug, Manu Ginobili said he could tell from the outset that Parker still wasn’t right.

“Tony was still sick,” he said. “Tony is very important for us to get into the paint, kick and get us some easy shots. He wasn’t ready today.”

Rare miss: After his first free-throw miss since Dec. 23, Spurs rookie Gary Neal was grateful the stakes weren’t quite as high as the last time he went to the line for three free throws against the Timberwolves.

That was Nov. 24 in Minneapolis, when Neal made three foul shots with 16.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The Spurs won 113-109.

“Up there, that was a little more pressure than these three,” said Neal, whose free-throw percentage had risen to a team-high 87.5 percent before his Sunday miss. “It happens, and we won the game. Nobody really remembers stuff like that when you win.”

Self-inflicted injury: DeJuan Blair had to leave the game after diving for a loose ball with 7:52 left in the third quarter. The burly second-year center poked the ball away from Ridnour and failed to break his fall, losing most of the air in his lungs when he hit the floor.